It’s time for cup collection day at the UK Open Pool Championship at the Telford International Centre, and three players will have their sights set on landing an elusive World Nineball Tour major accolade and the $40,000 top prize.
A new name is guaranteed to be etched onto the stunning UK Open trophy come Sunday evening. Following five days of drama, shocks and stories unfolding, four players will be vying to accompany Joshua Filler, Eklent Kaci and Robbie Capito as British royalty.
Aloysius Yapp and Mickey Krause could renew rivalries in a repeat of last weekend’s Scottish Open finals, although in-form Jonas Souto Comino has appeared unstoppable at times and American Tyler Styer has battled through a strenuous run.
MICKEY KRAUSE VS JONAS SOUTO COMINO
Mickey Krause and Jonas Souto Comino were the most recent ranking event winners heading into the UK Open and both have continued that imperious form. Krause sealed Scottish Open spoils following Souto Comino’s Helsinki Open triumph, with the latter now eyeing the biggest accolade of his career.
Spanish rising star Souto Comino has been simmering beneath the surface for some time yet he’s truly flourished this year. He’s mounted a charge towards representing the European team, and he will now have his sights firmly fixated on following in Mosconi Cup and European Open champion Krause’s footsteps.
Somewhat surprisingly a 100/1 dark horse pre-tournament, Souto Comino was tested during double elimination by both Tom Staveley and Edward Koyongian, and those tests boded him well as more commanding victories over the likes of Mario He, Mateusz Sniegocki and Jayson Shaw would follow.
Krause, the current world number 12, meanwhile, has also remained undefeated, clinching victories over the likes of David Alcaide and Pijus Labutis in closely-contested affairs, as well as scuppering the unseeded Fraser Patrick’s fairytale run in the quarter-finals. The recent Scottish Open champion is currently 14 matches unbeaten on the World Nineball Tour.
Souto Comino produced a spellbinding six break and runs in succession in his last 16 win over Poland’s Sniegocki and then followed that with a flawless display to dismantle Shaw. His shotmaking skills, potting efficiency and break have been outstanding all week, with his only weaknesses perhaps coming in the safety department.
Krause and Souto Comino faced one another on the outer tables at the US Open four years ago when neither of them were remotely recognisable. It’s a battle between two of the world’s very best nowadays, and one which the Spaniard could run away with, should he establish a prompt buffer like he has done in prior matches.
Prediction: 11-7 Souto Comino
ALOYSIUS YAPP VS TYLER STYER
World number five Aloysius Yapp has reached the semi-finals of an open championship for the first time since 2021, when he was denied in the US Open final by Carlo Biado, while Tyler Styer enters uncharted territory and now contests one of the biggest matches of his career.
Based on his world ranking and him being a back-to-back International Open champion, Singapore’s Yapp is now the favourite to emerge victorious come Sunday evening, although Styer has come through intense battles this week and been thoroughly impressive with new equipment.
Styer has endured an arduous route to the semi-finals, winning four matches on the one-loss side to reach the last 64 following an opening match defeat to Juan Carlos Esposito, including a hill-hill win over Do The Kien. The American has since produced outstanding displays to defeat both Joshua Filler and Wiktor Zielinski, sandwiched by a more dominant win over Naoyuki Oi.
It’s been a significantly less taxing campaign for the third seed, as Yapp dethroned defending champion Robbie Capito in the last 64 in a close encounter, before dropping a mere ten racks in his next three matches, including a 10-2 demolition of an uncharacteristically out of sorts Carlo Biado.
Yapp, the current Asian MVP, has been playing some extraordinary stuff since that confidence-boosting Reyes Cup campaign last October. Despite Styer’s battling qualities being evident throughout the event, you have to feel that the Singaporean will have the upper hand.
Prediction: 11-6 Yapp
